TY - JOUR
T1 - Unraveling the efficiency-limiting morphological issues of the perylene diimide-based non-fullerene organic solar cells
AU - Singh, Ranbir
AU - Suranagi, Sanjaykumar R.
AU - Lee, Jaewon
AU - Lee, Hansol
AU - Kim, Min
AU - Cho, Kilwon
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 The Author(s).
PY - 2018/12/1
Y1 - 2018/12/1
N2 - Herein we report a comparative morphological analysis of the perylene diimide (PDI)- and fullerene-based organic solar cells (OSCs) to identify the factors responsible for low performance of PDI-based devices. A PDI derivative, bis-PDI, and a fullerene derivative, PC70BM, are mixed with an efficient polymer donor, PffBT4T-2OD. The large disparity in power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of OSCs composed of PffBT4T-2OD:bis-PDI (PCE = 5.18%) and PffBT4T-2OD:PC70BM (PCE = 10.19%) observed are attributed to differences in the nanostructural motif of bulk heterojunction (BHJ) morphologies of these blend systems. The X-ray scattering and surface energy characterizations revealed that the structurally dissimilar bis-PDI and PC70BM molecules determine the variation in blend film morphologies, and in particular, the molecular packing features of the donor PffBT4T-2OD polymer. In addition, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) images explore the BHJ morphologies and presence of longer polymer fibrils in PffBT4T-2OD:bis-PDI system, justifying the unbalanced charge transport and high hole mobility. The low performance of PffBT4T-2OD:bis-PDI devices was further investigated by studying charge carrier recombination dynamics by using light-intensity-dependent and transient photovoltage (TPV) experiments. Furthermore, the temperature-dependent experiments showed the photovoltaic properties, including charge recombination losses, are strongly affected by energetic disorder present in bis-PDI-based system.
AB - Herein we report a comparative morphological analysis of the perylene diimide (PDI)- and fullerene-based organic solar cells (OSCs) to identify the factors responsible for low performance of PDI-based devices. A PDI derivative, bis-PDI, and a fullerene derivative, PC70BM, are mixed with an efficient polymer donor, PffBT4T-2OD. The large disparity in power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of OSCs composed of PffBT4T-2OD:bis-PDI (PCE = 5.18%) and PffBT4T-2OD:PC70BM (PCE = 10.19%) observed are attributed to differences in the nanostructural motif of bulk heterojunction (BHJ) morphologies of these blend systems. The X-ray scattering and surface energy characterizations revealed that the structurally dissimilar bis-PDI and PC70BM molecules determine the variation in blend film morphologies, and in particular, the molecular packing features of the donor PffBT4T-2OD polymer. In addition, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) images explore the BHJ morphologies and presence of longer polymer fibrils in PffBT4T-2OD:bis-PDI system, justifying the unbalanced charge transport and high hole mobility. The low performance of PffBT4T-2OD:bis-PDI devices was further investigated by studying charge carrier recombination dynamics by using light-intensity-dependent and transient photovoltage (TPV) experiments. Furthermore, the temperature-dependent experiments showed the photovoltaic properties, including charge recombination losses, are strongly affected by energetic disorder present in bis-PDI-based system.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85042061076&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1038/s41598-018-21162-x
DO - 10.1038/s41598-018-21162-x
M3 - Article
C2 - 29434237
AN - SCOPUS:85042061076
SN - 2045-2322
VL - 8
JO - Scientific Reports
JF - Scientific Reports
IS - 1
M1 - 2849
ER -
